Riccardo Muti
Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini
Giuseppe Verdi
Sinfonia from Nabucco
“Le quattro stagioni” from I vespri siciliani
Manuel De Falla
The Three-Cornered Hat, Suite No. 2
Maurice Ravel
Boléro
Dance is one of music’s secret driving forces, and only the greatest conductors can reveal its most intimate dynamics. Muti is one such conductor, as seen in his interpretations of Verdi: in the Nabucco opening symphony, for example, the rhythm seems to embody the energy and tension of the exploited masses. In the Vespers’ “Four Seasons”, included in the premiere to please the Parisian audience, who considered ballet as both a social ritual and a dramaturgical necessity, music expresses the orchestra’s sheer vitality. In de Falla’s work instead, ballet becomes all earth and fire, vibrant with sharp accents, incandescent colours, controlled sensuality and sudden explosions. And Boléro’s hypnotic obsessiveness is built on a single beat that grows in intensity, mounting inexorably towards a collective vertigo.
